Bariatric Surgery Things You Should Be Aware Of

Bariatric Surgery Things You Should Be Aware Of When all other
measures fail to control morbid obesity, weight loss surgery is
a source of hope to the overweight. American doctors perform
weight loss surgery over 140,000 times a year. The oldest form
of weight loss surgery is the most familiar, stomach stapling.
In this 30-year-old procedure, most of the stomach is sliced and
then stapled shut. After the procedure, only a small pouch
remains. Shrinking the stomach so it can only hold half a cup of
food makes it easier to feel full. In fact, most people who have
weight loss surgery feel full after eating the amount of food
that you could put on a coffee saucer. It becomes impossible to
eat more than two quarter-cup servings (about 50 grams
altogether) of anything at a single meal. Weight loss follows
calorie restriction. The newer and now more common form of
weight loss surgery, the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, also makes
the stomach surgically smaller. In this procedure, however, the
stomach is not dissected and stapled shut. In this newer form of
weight loss surgery, the stomach is cut and sutured, or sewn,
and the intestines are moved so that the end of the stomach is
connected farther down the intestine. This procedure leaves a
smaller stomach that fills more quickly. It also leaves a
shorter length of intestine to absorb fats (and other nutrients)
from the smaller amounts of food that are eaten. With this form
of weight loss surgery, you don’t just eat less. Your intestines
absorb less of the food you do eat. Roux-en-Y bariatric surgery
produces quicker and more significant weight loss than just
stapling or banding the stomach. There’s also a third approach
to weight loss surgery, the lap band. The benefit of the lap
band is that the weight loss surgery to install it can be
laparoscopic, that is, done through an incision as little as one
inch (25 mm) wide. Lap band surgery can even be an outpatient
procedure, with the patient going home the same day. After lap
band surgery, many patients go back to work in three to four
days and resume all normal activities (except eating) within a
week. The other gastric bypass procedures require a minimum of
four days in the hospital and six to eight weeks before resuming
an active lifestyle. Another advantage of lap band surgery is a
much lower risk of infection. Lap band surgery goes around the
stomach, not into the stomach. The bacteria in the stomach do
not leak into other parts of the body, and the risk of infection
is greatly reduced. Lap band surgery is much less painful than
the other procedures. And since pain in the muscles is so much
less, patients are very unlikely to develop pneumonia or other
breathing problems. The disadvantage of lap band bariatric
surgery is that not everyone can have it. The FDA at one time
required that recipients of lap band bariatric procedures be at
least 18 and no more than 50 years of age. It’s also utterly
essential not to be allergic to the material used to make the
band. And if you overeat after you have a lap band in place, the
effect is a little like pulling a napkin through a napkin ring.
Too much food can stretch the band so that it damages the
stomach. Lap band surgery is easier, but requires more
discipline. There is no form of weight loss surgery that is a
complete cure for obesity all by itself. Lifetime attention to
diet and exercise are still necessary. But successful weight
loss surgery can give you the boost you need to regain control
of your life and become truly, lastingly, healthily thin. The
Promise and Potential of “Fat Surgery” When Diets Fail When all
other measures fail to control morbid obesity, weight loss
surgery or “fat surgery” is a source of hope to the overweight.
American doctors perform surgical procedures to make weight loss
easier well over 100,000 times a year. The oldest form of fat
surgery is the most familiar, stomach stapling. In this
well-established procedure, most of the stomach is sliced and
then stapled shut. After this form of fat surgery, only a small
pouch of the stomach remains connected to the esophagus. The
newly resized stomach can only hold half a cup of food. Having a
smaller stomach makes it easier to feel full. In fact, most
people who have fat surgery feel full after eating the amount of
food that you could put on a coffee saucer. It becomes
impossible to eat more than two quarter-cup servings (about 50
grams altogether) of anything at a single meal. Weight loss
naturally follows. Stomach stapling is the oldest form of fat
surgery, and you can probably find a physician in your area who
has a lot of experience doing it. In fact, you should only
consider physicians and hospitals who have performed at least
100 operations. You don’t want your doctor’s training to be
performed on you. Other procedures are little harder to arrange.
The newer form of stomach reduction, the Roux-en-Y gastric
bypass, also makes the stomach surgically smaller. In this
procedure, however, the stomach is not dissected and stapled
shut. Instead, after the stomach’s size is reduced, it is
reattached to the small intestine at a lower point. Roux-en-Y
fat surgery leaves a smaller stomach that fills more quickly. It
also leaves a shorter length of intestine to absorb fats (and
other nutrients) from the smaller amounts of food that are
eaten. With this form of fat surgery, you don’t just eat less.
Your intestines absorb less of the food you do eat. Roux-en-Y
bariatric surgery produces quicker and more significant weight
loss than just stapling or banding the stomach. There’s also a
third approach to fat surgery, the lap band. The benefit of the
lap band is that the weight loss surgery to install it can be
laparoscopic. The entire fat surgery can be done through an
incision as little as one inch (25 mm) wide. Lap band surgery
can even be an outpatient procedure, so you can go home the same
day. After lap band surgery, many patients go back to work in
three to four days and resume all normal activities (except
eating) within a week. The other forms of fat surgery require a
minimum of four days in the hospital and six to eight weeks
before resuming an active lifestyle. You may be asking, “Why
just shrink the stomach? Wouldn’t it be simpler just to
surgically remove all the fat?” This procedure, called
lipectomy, actually exists. Liposuction has the same effect. The
problem with both lipectomy and liposuction is that high blood
pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugars don’t go down
just because fat is removed from the body. Only the process of
dieting seems to have this effect. There is no form of fat
surgery that is a complete cure for obesity all by itself.
Lifetime attention to diet and exercise are still necessary. But
successful weight loss surgery can give you the boost you need
to regain control of your life and become truly, lastingly,
healthily thin.

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